Game Notes & Preview: (10) Providence (17-4, 5-3) at Georgetown (13-8, 6-2) 1/30/16

Where: Verizon Center – Washington DC

When: 8:00pm EST

How: FS1 (Joe Davis & Tarik Turner)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

• Providence and Georgetown will meet for the 67th time on Saturday with the Hoyas leading the series, 44-22. All but two of the all-time matchups came prior to the Big East forming in 1979. Georgetown has won 23 of 28 games in Washington DC. The Friars swept the season series last season against the Hoyas, winning both times by just 3 points.
• Georgetown is 13-8 (6-2) on the season. The Hoyas are led by John Thompson III, who is in his 12th season at the helm of the Georgetown program. The Hoyas have defeated DePaul, Creighton and Marquette at home and DePaul, St. John’s and Xavier on the road. Their two losses come against Villanova at home and at Creighton on January 5th. The Hoyas are led in scoring by senior D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who averages 16.3 points/game. Senior Bradley Hayes is the leading rebounder, averaging 6.6 rebounds/game.
• The Friars moved back into the Top 10 this week in both polls after winning both of their games last week. Providence defeated then top 20 Butler at home on Tuesday and won at then 4th ranked Villanova on Sunday. This is the first time Providence has been ranked in the AP Poll for 9 straight weeks since the 1977-78 season.
• Kris Dunn is closing in on some career milestones. Dunn currently has 994 points, 481 assists, 429 rebounds and 186 steals. Should Dunn get to the 1,000 point, 500 assist and 200 steal clubs, he would become the only player in school history to have accomplished all of those feats. 500 rebounds is also within his grasp. Dunn would have to average 7.1 rebounds/game over the final 10 games to do it in the regular season.
• Opening Line: (10) Providence +3.5 at Georgetown 1/30/16

Game Preview

Georgetown’s overall record may not be living up to the preseason hype that saw them picked 2nd in the preseason Big East Coaches’ Poll. However, their 6-2 league record puts them 1 game behind Villanova and tied with Xavier for second place in the Big East. The Hoyas have been led by returning senior D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who briefly declared for the 2015 NBA Draft before pulling his name out ahead of the deadline.

The Hoyas have also been aided by the large improvement from their largest player. 7-foot senior Bradley Hayes would be the league’s most improved player if not for Ben Bentil. Hayes has jumped his scoring from 0.9 points/game last season to 8.5 points/game this season. His rebounding number have improved from 1.4/game to 6.6/game. He is playing 21.7 minutes/game this season after averaging only 4.1/game last season. Another way to describe it is that Hayes’ counting stats in 2015-16 have already eclipsed the prior 3 season, combined. He had 30 career points, 42 career rebounds and 4 career blocks entering this season in 134 minutes in 42 career games. This season: 179 points, 139 rebounds, 27 blocks, 455 minutes in 21 games. He’s been a nice surprise for John Thompson III.

The probable starters according to the game notes and prior box scores are:

Providence

• Kyron Cartwright – #24 – Sophomore
• Kris Dunn – #3 – Junior
• Junior Lomomba – #32 – Junior
• Rodney Bullock – #5 – Sophomore
• Ben Bentil – #0 – Sophomore

Georgetown

• D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera  – #4 – Senior
• Tre Campbell – #1 – Sophomore
• Reggie Cameron – #5 – Junior
• Isaac Copeland – #11 -Sophomore
• Bradley Hayes – #42 – Senior

The keys for a Providence victory are:

• Keep LJ Peak from penetrating to the rim
• Slow down D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera
• Use Quadree Smith’s body and fouls
• Shoot the ball halfway decent

LJ Peak takes 53.6% of his shots at the rim. That’s the highest percentage on the Georgetown roster besides freshman sub Kaleb Johnson. Peak’s conversion rate at the rim is 55.4%, which is one of the worst on the team of players that regularly contribute. Providence has struggled keeping quick guards out of the lane this season and Peak presents another similar challenge for the Providence defense.

D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera’s overall shooting numbers are similar to last season. Digging into the numbers a bit reveals that he is shooting worse from 3-point range and better on 2-point attempts than last season. DSR is the anti-Peak in terms of shot selection with only 15.8% of his shots coming at the rim. He takes a staggering 55.7% of his shots from beyond the arc, converting at a clip 35.5%. He’ll make tough shots as he always does, but Providence keeping DSR in check will go a long way towards securing another road victory.

Quadree Smith has been healthy for the last few games but hasn’t seen minutes because he didn’t really fit with the matchups of the teams Providence was facing. Smith fits against Georgetown. The Hoyas have size and beef up front, both in the starting lineup and coming off the bench. Expecting Ben Bentil to be able to play 40 minutes against this Georgetown frontline doesn’t seem like a good idea. Smith should be used to give Bentil a few blows to catch his breath. Cooley should also use his 5 fouls to mitigate Bentil from getting himself into foul trouble.

The Friars shooting has been abysmal for much of the month of January. They have been slightly better on the road, however. Providence is 5-0 in true road games this season, including a 3-0 road record in league play. In those 5 road games, Providence shot 44.9% from the field, including 34.9% from 3-point range. That 3-point shooting number would put the Friars around the middle of the pack nationally, instead of 320/351 where they sit overall. If Providence can shoot the ball halfway decent, they have proven they can play defense well enough to be in games.

Prediction: Providence 72 Georgetown 69

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Mike Hopkins

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